"Go!" Veda told the driver.
But he was pulling up his phone on the touchscreen on the dash. "I just need to tell Mr. Morelli we're making a stop."
I threw her a panicked look.
"No," she told him firmly. "We don't. Hang up now and just drive. He knows I'm going downtown anyway. It'll just be a quick stop." Gesturing with her hands, she told him, "Go! Or I'll tell him it was you who made us late if anything happens to either of us."
With an unhappy look, he put the car in motion.
Then she turned to me. "Is your brother okay?"
"I don't know," I told her honestly, then added a half-lie. "I got a strange text from him and now he's not answering me."
"Go faster," she told the driver when we hit the road. "But don't get pulled over. I'll call Luca and explain everything once we get her there."
I didn't know if she would really tell him or not, but I didn't tell her not to, because I was fucking terrified. I had no idea what I was about to walk into, and if she called Luca after they dropped me off, Tristan would come for me. I completely believed that, because he told me he always would.
With a quick glance at the driver, I whispered, "I was told to come alone." I didn't want to say more than that, but I hoped it would be enough to let Tristan know to be careful. And hopefully, we'd both still be alive when he showed up. I'd ask him about my mother's picture once we were safe.
Veda's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, and then she squeezed my hand to let me know she'd heard me. She didn't let go, holding it the entire trip. I appreciated that she didn't force me to say any more or tell me everything was going to be okay. Instead, she just offered her silent support.
The neighborhood we drove through blurred past the window in a frenzy of winter grays and browns, but I barely noticed any of it. All I could think about was getting to Logan. He was my only real family, and I'd do anything—anything—to protect him now. Even if it meant going back to Gino, if that was what he wanted.
I told the driver to drop me off on the corner and I'd walk the rest of the way so Veda wouldn't be late to her appointment, telling her I needed to walk off my panic before I saw him so I didn't come across as a crazy, overprotective sister when it turned out to be nothing. She knew what I was doing, and she didn't want to do it, but I finally got her to agree only when I took her number and promised to call if I needed her to come back.
Waving as they pulled away, I waited until the car was swallowed up by traffic before I turned and ran down the street toward the large construction site I could see two or three blocks ahead.
I slowed down as I approached, catching my breath and scanning the area for any signs of Gino or Logan. Other than the sounds of cars, it was eerily quiet as I ducked under the chain stretched across the entrance to the lot and headed toward the half-built concrete warehouse in the center, my hand up to block the bright sun. But it was still winter, and the wind was really blowing. I wished I'd remembered my coat.
"Logan!" I shouted as I neared. "Logan, where are you?" Fear and panic made my voice abnormally high. I didn't think about being cautious. I didn't give a fuck who heard me. It's not like they didn't know I was coming, and I just wanted to see my brother and make sure he was all right.
I found an unfinished doorway and picked my way over some rocks to get inside. Once I was out of the wind, I turned in frantic circles, searching the cavernous room for any sign of my brother or Gino. "Logan!" Birds flew from the rafters, startling me, and I watched them fly out through a hole where the roof should've been as I tried to get my heart to beat again.
A muffled shout sounded from my right. I hurried toward it, my sneakers slipping on the dusty concrete floor. Behind a stack of steel beams, Logan was bound and gagged, his one unswollen eye dazed with pain and fear. Blood ran down the side of his face from a wide gash in his forehead, dripping onto his white T-shirt, and one of his arms was twisted at a grotesque angle.
I dropped to my knees and pulled the gag from his mouth, then started fumbling with the ropes around his ankles, crying out when he jerked and moaned in pain. "I'm so sorry," I told him as tears blurred my vision. "I'm so, so sorry, honey."
"Luni," he gasped. His speech was slurred, and he spit blood onto the floor. "Get the fuck out of here. Before they come back."
"I'm not leaving you," I choked out. "Can you walk?" I didn't want to move his arm any more than I had to, so I left his hands tied in front of him for now.
His one good eye darted over my shoulder and he opened his mouth to try to warn me. But before I could turn, a massive force slammed into me from behind, catching me on my head and shoulder and throwing me to the side. Stars danced in front of my eyes as the left side of my face scraped along the gritty floor and a heavy weight pinned me down between my shoulder blades. I thrashed violently as I tried to get up, but a hand fisted in my hair, yanking my head back painfully.
Gino's cold voice hissed in my ear. "Welcome back, Luna. It's so good to have the family back together again."
His knee ground into my back as I screamed in rage and frustration. But it was no use. We were trapped. And Gino had won.
CHAPTER4
Tristan
The sun glinted off the hood of my black SUV, blinding me as I sped toward the spot where Veda said Luna had been dropped off.
It'd been more than twenty minutes since her call, and her panicked voice still rang in my ears. "Tristan? A woman came out of your house as I was driving past. Um, Luna?"
"You saw Luna?"
"Yeah."
